Cold
by halcyonranhuer
Summary: A submas oneshot. Nobori is busy, leaving Kudari lonely.


**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon.**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

Kudari stared idly at the digital clock; brightly lit block like digits flashing the time. He drummed his fingers on his table while he laid his head on an unfinished pile of paperwork. After what seemed like eternity to him which was apparently just five minutes, the silver head sat up in a sudden motion and peeked over to look at his brother's desk.

Nobori wasn't there.

Sighing, Kudari flopped on his swivel chair. He mindlessly flipped his papers and documents while anticipating the moment when his brother would stepped in the workroom.

Today was boring, so was yesterday, so was the day before and so was last week. Every week, although many, there were barely any challengers who were truly able to face him, Kudari, one of the two subway masters of the well-known Battle Subway in Raimon city (Nimbasa), who managed the double and super double lines. Trainers who came here always left with their heads low and their pride crushed. It had to be that way, as other than managing monorails in the whole of the Isshu region (Unova), the subway masters were also famous for being challenging opponents. Hence every day was somewhat of the same routine, making him feel that every day was somewhat mundane.

It was now eight thirty at night. Kudari, long given up with paper work, was now fondling with his white cap; his silver hair in a mess, stray locks caught in the occassional breeze. Then in the silence, there was a sudden buzz on the table. Kudari quickly ripped his phone off the table. "Finally! Nii-san finally replied!" He grinned as he held his phone tightly. Kudari had been sending endless calls and messages to him, but it seemed that his workaholic brother was too busy to reply until now.

_Kudari, get your own dinner tonight. I'll be busy._ was the message on the screen.

Silence seeped back into the room again as Kudari leaned on the chair. "Haha... Seems like it will just be you and me again." He looked at his pokemon and gave it a lopped sided sort of grin. Elecktross whimpered softly upon seeing his master's dull grey eyes and the lack of cheer in his voice. Kudari quietly stood up and headed home, which was an apartment a stone's throw from their workplace.

* * *

Kudari was stuffing rice into his mouth. It was dry and stale and sauce that accompanied it tasted terrible. However that was what he would expect from food packages from convenience stalls, which was why Kudari would usually skipped meals if Nobori did not eat with him. Today was an exception though. Kudari was hungry; he did not have breakfast or lunch today as Nobori rushed off to work early this morning. So he missed his timely breakfast with his brother. However during lunch, when Kudari was patiently waiting at a station, his brother again called to inform him that he could not make it for lunch and said that he would have dinner with him. Until the last text said otherwise.

However this had become common, ever since they became subway masters three years ago, Nobori just grew busier and busier, both given paperwork after paperwork and challengers after challengers. Being a silent and serious person, Nobori only spoke to Kudari about trivial matters when they were alone doing anything except work. However times like these had severely lessened over the years, now, he barely heard his brother utter a single word to him, even when Kudari was right opposite his desk, on the other side.

However the among the rare times when Kudari heard his brother speak to him…

_"Please finish this paperwork, Kudari."/ "Manage the Subway for me while I am away for a challenger." _

They were nothing more than asking him to handle and do jobs.

As time passed, Kudari became thrilled at just being able to see Nobori, dressed in his usual black suit, pants and white formal shirt staring intensely at the document or when Nobori walking to inspect the trains when he was there. However in these few months, Kudari rarely saw him. A text from his brother already had him smiling a little.

Kudari tossed the food package into the bin; he barely finished the meal. To be frank, it was disgusting and he also felt a little unwell. The cold from yesterday seemed to have gotten worse. But he quickly dismissed it.

Kudari sighed and looked around, the walls around the living room at home seemed dreary and old. Dust layered the remote controls of the television and the television itself. The leather sofa was clean, with nicely embroil flora cushions placed neatly on both ends. The table tops were bare, no used cups, no dirty dishes. One bed was slightly messy, that was all and it always seemed to be Kudari's.

Probably it was something that had to do with their personalities. They were twins, completely looking alike, the same face replicated twice. However if one looked harder, there will be certain differences between them, like Kudari was a bit shorter than Nobori and slightly smaller in size, not that Kudari wanted to mention it or that Nobori's hair was slightly longer and curled a little. But despite their looks, their personalities and characters were polar opposites. Nobori was diligent, organized, serious and stoic. Furthermore he was very quiet and was a bit of an anti-social, but he was efficient and always completed his work quickly. Kudari, on the other hand, was more of a scatterbrain and messy, usually leaving his work till before deadlines where he would rushed to complete them. Kudari was also a little nosier and more carefree as compared to his elder twin. Nobori never seemed to smile but Kudari had that smile of his every day.

Back then, Kudari used to think that it was the paperwork that kept Nobori so busy; hence Kudari decided to work harder in hopes of lightening his brother's burden. But he later learned that there was actually a lot more to that. Running a real subway stretched around the entire region with many commuters boarding their trains and managing a pokemon battle subway at the same time was not very simple. At first it was bearable, but as time went by, it was became a heavy burden to both brothers emotionally, physically and their relationship wise.

Yet it was their dream to do something like that when they were young. Nobori and Kudari made that promise outside a Joltik cave, their small pinky swear and pinky swears are promises of the highest caliber. And they did fulfilled it.

Upon thinking that, Kudari suddenly tasted bitterness in his mouth. "It must be the sauce, probably expired." he chuckled coldly, and his voice shaking.

Yet it was their dream slowly breaking their bond. How ironic.

It was almost midnight, Kudari was resting his head on the sofa. Fatigue was overwhelming him; his emotions were overwhelming. For some reason that he did not understand, Kudari also felt that his shadow was unusually big. He felt small, insecure, lost, like there was a hole in his heart.

He felt empty. Lonely. Twins were not supposed to feel that way. Should there not have been some kind of unexplained special connection to each of them? Telepathy? The ability to feel each other's pain? Then they were still be able to be at each other's side in a way.

The excuse "Nii-san's busy" was probably not going to work soon. Kudari had enough; enough of the excuses, enough of the smiling facades, enough with...leaving him behind. Then something snapped inside him.

He was jabbing buttons on his phone before he knew it. He called Nobori.

"What is it, Kudari?"

"Nii-san, come back...home..."

"I can't. Didn't I inform you through the message? You should know that this month's June and there are heightning numbers-"

"Nii-san, just come home." Kudari interrupted.

"... Stop being a kid, Kudari. Please act like a grown up, you're 21." Nobori muttered, and then sighed audibly, before abruptly hanging up the phone.

Kudari stayed on the line for a while, hearing the dead repetitive tone on the other line before dropping his cell phone to proceed staring at the ceiling. It was a bright, soft light peach colour, but when it was reflected in his eyes; the colour somehow died.

Kudari did not like this house; it was awfully cold. He looked outside the window. It was neither winter nor autumn yet, how strange... why would today's night be so cold then? He covered his pale face with his gloved hands and somehow soothed himself to sleep.

The next morning, Kudari woke up at the same place he fell asleep last night. His body was aching all over due to the position he slept in. However Kudari was staring at the same cup he used last night in the basin.

Nobori did not come home after all.

* * *

Today, he felt exceedingly terrible; he could not even stomach breakfast. Hence all Kudari did was to stare into thin air before realizing that he wasn't exactly early for work.

By the time he reached the workplace (in which he was quite late), he spotted Nobori at a corner, seriously talking to co-workers. Kudari then excitedly waved to his brother hoping for a favorable response from his brother. However Nobori glared at him before walking away.

"N-Nii-san..!" Kudari exclaimed, shocked by Nobori's cold gesture and rushed after him.

Just then, one of the subway employees, walked up to him before he could catch up with his elder brother; her face a little red and she was slightly panting too. "Kudari-san! Where have you been?! We were searching for you for the whole morning! There was an urgent report meant for the department you were handling and you weren't there to handle that document! The trains nearly ran late because of that!" she huffed angrily.

Kudari stared at her for a moment, trying to register the information bomb and after a minute or so, he mumbled a "sorry" before heading off to do his work, leaving the employee a little annoyed.

So he troubled Nobori again.

Today Kudari had ten challengers; which was quite a high number of pokemon trainers. Sighing, he gave his pokemon a small smile before facing the first one of the day. There he went, battle after battle; the first nine was not much of a hassle and Kudari thought he could return to his work soon and quietly spent the rest of the day behind his work desk, until the tenth trainer came stepping.

"My name is Black." The young pokemon boy trainer announced his name.

Black? That was a weird name. Kudari then recalled the fact the pokemon trainers with weird names have somewhat supreme battle skills. It was like an unexplained natural phenomenon. An example would be that the champion of the Kanto region was named Red or that the champion of the Johto Region was actually named Gold, either way both held respected titles.

And so with that in mind, Kudari knew that trainer would have no ordinary battle skills. After all, there was a young lad named Cheren who managed to conquer the single line, in short defeating Nobori.

"Nobori Nii-san..." he thought silently, and all the ugly feelings suppressed by the previous battles he focused on all flowed out again, making Kudari feel sicker. He quickly tried to compose himself again.

"What Nii-chan said was right, I am acting like a child. I needed to focus on battle." Kudari coughed a little, before raising his pokeball to his chin. The feelings were then once more forced into box; they would be hindrance to battle. A subway master have no need of these feelings. However by doing so, Kudari also neglected everything else other than that pokemon trainer and the battle that was preceding.

"I am Kudari. I am a Subway Boss. I like Double Battles. I like combinations of two Pokémon. And I like winning more than anything else. So let's start a great battle in which every Pokémon uses various moves."

"Ok, I look forward to an entertaining battle."

Intense, that was what the battle was like, even now. Kudari started feeling uncomfortably cold, worse than before and he was perspiring profusely, his loose strands of hair caught in the flow of perspiration droplets. He was panting harder than before. Probably it was due to the intense battle, since they were both down to their last pokemon.

Black was not fazed at the least. In fact, the lad was smiling as he returned his pokemon which fainted into the pokeball. In short, only Emboar was left on the field.

The battlefield was in a wreck, the internal of the train cabin badly damaged and there were occasional debris that flew to both trainers when their pokemon clashed roughly against one another. That was because earlier on, Black's Hydreigon unleashed quite an unsightly attack that caused nearly more than half of the cabin to be wrecked. That pokemon took a lot of Kudari's physical and mental strength.

"Venoshock." Kudari ordered Garbodor, which started excreting venomous liquids around its body,

He then turned his head to Black; it is indeed a wonder how that boy remained unscathed and undaunted all this while. The subway master himself is already struggling to stand, hurt from the flying remnants of the train cabin and the continuous feedback of pokemon attacks as they was no longer contained due to the destroyed cabin.

"Hurry up, use heat crush!" Black quickly interrupted, giving a signal to his pokemon.

Just before Kudari could open his mouth, his vision went a little blurry and the ceiling started to spin. Then, there was an indescribable amount of heat that seemingly burnt his skin and flames enveloped his sight. Kudari was sent flying back next from the intensity of that insanely strong attack, together with his pokemon. He flew across the walkway and hit the metallic debris that laid behind him.

He felt coppery tasting liquid in his mouth and his head hurt badly. His vision was creating double images in its blurred state and vision started turning black. When he managed to regain a little of his conscience, he felt his face against the cool metallic ground and quietly wondered how he ended up there.

Hearing a faint announcement from the computerized referee in the distance that Black was declared winner, Kudari once again fell into a void of darkness.

He lost the battle…

Then began a dreamlike state, Kudari saw Nobori in a misty area. Nobori began to walk. Kudari tried chasing after him. Nobori walked faster. Kudari tried calling after him. Nobori just walked further. Nobori was disappearing now. Kudari screamed, no voice came out. Kudari starting running. Nobori disappeared into the distance. Kudari stood alone- _left alone_. The feelings that were painfully boxed up all just suddenly burst out.

Fear. Terror. Loneliness. Emptiness. Sorrow. Grief. Uncertainty. Lost. Hopeless. Panic.

**_Unloved._**

"No... DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND, NOBORI NII-SAN!"

Kudari cried.

* * *

Kudari woke up with a jolt; his hair falling all over messily; his nose a little blocked and his eyes wet. He was uncomfortable and realized his clothes were unusually damp. Not only that, he was not wearing gloves and when he tried moving his right hand to wipe off the tears, he found that it was connected to an IV drip. There was this sickly smell of disinfection in the air and he was mostly bandaged up. The surrounding walls were an unfamiliar combination of pale yellow and white. It then came to him that he was in a hospital; lying on a hospital bed.

Kudari fiddled with his hands trying hard to recall what happened. There was a battle which he lost. Kudari cringed at that memory. The trainer was Black and his pokemon unleashed quite a nasty attack. And he got injured and fainted. But he had breaks of semi-consciousness, he heard something about a very bad viral infection and non-life threatening injuries as well as always seeing a figure dressed in black, staying beside him.

Kudari strained his neck a little to look at the seats near to the right. They were all empty however. He laughed sadly. What was he expecting? Suddenly feeling very exhausted, he decided to close his eyes. The room was abnormally cold as well and Kudari pulled his blanket up, sniffling a little. The hospital never tuned the air conditioner well right? After all, it was neither autumn nor winter.

After a few minutes, the sound of faint footsteps could be heard throughout the room. They stopped right beside his bed and in that moment, a warm gloved hand grabbed his very own cold one. Then in the midst of darkness he was looking at, a familiar voice was heard.

"Sorry Kudari... When you get well, we are going to have dinner together every day no matter. It was foolish of me to leave you alone all this while so..." the voice trailed off into a strained whisper. "I'm sorry…"

And suddenly, Kudari didn't feel so cold anymore.

* * *

**Author's note: Hey! Thanks for reading this. I just have to say that I may not be perfect in English so please feel free to correct me. Also, this is my first time describing a pokemon battle, so it may not be all that good... As for sustaining injuries and the battle area being destroyed in battle, I do think it is possible and I just wanted to add it in for effect... hehe. This is my first time writing a fanfic and I really like the twins. And I used their Japanese names, although the quote is taken from the English version just so you know and I am not familiar with pokemon attacks from the black and white game so please pardon me as well. Sorry about Black's personality. I just wanted to make him look bad ass.**

** Please review! I may upload Nobori's part if this goes well.**


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